Wilson is celebrated for his work in the New Yorker and elsewhere, particularly his cartoons. In this latest effort, he opts for broad farce that, like his cartoon style, is reminiscent of the Marx Brothers or Monty Python. He interweaves text and cartoons, which are used to good effect, not just as illustrations of what the reader already knows but as an extension of the text. Eddy Deco is a '40s type P.I. in the Sam Spade tradition, who is hired by Tracy McEstings to find her missing husbanda minor hoodand finds himself involved in a ludicrous caper that gets zanier as the story develops. Eddy's search leads him to underground caverns and Chinese torturers, Damon Runyonesque hoods and villains who have a disconcerting habit of turning into giant crabs or squids. Readers who don't take their P.I. literature too seriously, and who enjoy a touch of the absurd in their humor, will find Gahan's latest to their taste. (December)